Edgewood uses OT to top Joppatowne

Bell's TD run lifts Rams to 5th straight win

Football

Edgewood relied heavily on big plays to pull out a 21-14 overtime victory over host Joppatowne last night in an Upper Chesapeake Bay Athletic Conference game.

The victory stretched the Rams' winning streak to five games and solidified their hold on first place in the UCBAC. Edgewood (5-3, 4-0) has played well since losing its first three games and is fighting for a regional playoff spot.

The game was tied at 14 heading into overtime when Quentin Bell scored on a 4-yard run on the second play, and Jim Ryan added an extra point. Joppatowne then started at the 10 for its series and moved to the 2-yard line in three plays before Edgewood linemen Jerry Martin and Mark Keifer stopped running back David Dudley at the 1 to end the game.

"They're a big-play team," Joppatowne coach Bill Waibel said. "We did a pretty good job most of the game, but they made some big plays at inopportune times for us."

That started early when Edgewood quarterback Jordan Hancock threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Brown on the team's second series. Hancock added a 33-yard pass to Celio Suarez that set up Brown's 10-yard touchdown run with 2:21 left in the half and gave Edgewood a 14-0 halftime lead.

Joppatowne (6-2, 3-2) also had some big plays but stuck with its trademark running game to keep the ball out of Edgewood's hands - and the strategy paid off in the second half. The Mariners scored on two long drives to tie the game.

The first one was a 10-play third-quarter drive that ended with quarterback Antoine Brown's 3-yard touchdown run. Dudley (164 yards) then capped an eight-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 2:55 left in the fourth quarter. He then ran for the game-tying two-point conversion to force overtime.

But the Rams controlled the extra period. Brown (71 yards) ran for 6 yards before Bell scored on the next play.

"Our offensive line just cleared it out," Bell said. "I just shot right through the hole."